THE Port of Ningbo expects to post a 76.2 per cent year-on-year increase in rail-waterway container volume to 100,064 TEU in 2013, reports Xinhua.

In recent years, Ningbo has been expanding its rail network covering hinterland regions, which has fast-tracked rail-water intermodal container growth from 1,690 TEU in 2009 to 59,500 TEU in 2012 and then to more than 100,000 TEU this year.

In 2013, Ningbo started fast cargo train service to Yangtze River Delta hinterland manufacturing cities of Quzhou, Jinhua and Yiwu, to Xiangyang, a city in central province Hubei and to northwestern Xian and Lanzhou. It also lowered rates 30 per cent on laden boxes from Jiangxi province to Ningbo to attract more transshipments.

At present, Ningbo port's rail-water intermodal service network covers 12 cities in the eastern province of Zhejiang and the central province of Jiangxi.

From January to November, the Port of Ningbo handled 23,460 TEU of rail-water boxes to and from Jiangxi, up 41.4 per cent, as well as 1,490 TEU to and from northwestern regions from which volumes surged 250 per cent.